


So this is what they called happiness

by skeletonwaltz



Category: Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drowning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 10:07:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11377995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeletonwaltz/pseuds/skeletonwaltz
Summary: A brief one shot reflecting Sayo's final thoughts during EP8 Magic ending. This was intended to be much angstier, but I restrained myself.





	So this is what they called happiness

“It’s over. You don’t have to cry anymore, Beato. You don’t have to apologize.”

She felt surrounded by an embrace so tight it felt as if it would never let go.

“No… not Beato.”

A small shadow of doubt wrinkled her heart for a second.

“Sayo.”

Hearing him pronounce it, not with disgust, not with pity, not with the tiniest speck of hatred or revolt, but imbuing the words with an infinite amount of love instead, was enough to fill her eyes with tears. Tears of joy she hadn’t shed in what felt like a thousand years. She closed her eyes.

“You deserve to be happy, Sayo. You deserve to live. Even though I have arrived to the truth too late, I want you to know that you’re not to blame. No one truly is.”

Maybe it was true. No, in fact it was: Battler’s words were lined in gold, she could see them. His forgiveness had lifted the tons of weight she had been carrying on her fragile shoulders for too long and bathed her world in a warm light. The crushing pressure on Sayo’s chest became lighter, the golden chains that held her turned into feathers and floated upwards, vanishing.

Battler had ended her search for atonement and now Beatrice was finally free.

She tried to mutter a response, but it wasn’t only the lump in her throat that muffled her voice. Her tears no longer ran down her cheeks: they became one with her surroundings as she poured them.

“My beloved golden dream”, she heard him say, although she knew it was impossible for any sound to reach her as she dived deeper into the blue abyss. Sayo could have been sad that it was only her wishful thinking what mimicked her childhood love’s voice and made him say what she wanted to hear, but she wasn’t. She reveled in every syllable echoing in her mind, knowing in her heart that they were honest. Battler had wanted something better for her, even though he hadn’t told her out loud. “Some things are difficult to put into words”, she smiled to herself knowingly. She was, at last, content. “So this is what they called happiness.”

Sayo let out one final breath and bubbles rose from her mouth, up towards the far away sunlight. She sunk slowly but surely and her cloudy conscience gave way to a special kind of bliss she had never known before. She would treasure all the love she felt in her scarred but healed soul forever, even at the bottom of the cold blue mausoleum. Her bones would rest within the heart of the ocean for all eternity.

“Thank you”, was her one last thought as she closed her eyes. Her expression was serene, almost enraptured. After a lifetime of struggling, she had found peace.

And then she became the sea.


End file.
